Gunman Involved in Tripoli Clashes Released from Roumieh Prison

One of the gunmen arrested for his links to the clashes in the northern city of Tripoli has been released from Roumieh Prison.

LBCI television reported that Abou Taymour al-Dandashi was released after a short detention period.

Judicial sources said that the Military Court ordered his release, clarifying that he is not a leader of one of Tripoli's gangs of gunmen as had been previously reported.

Dandashi was arrested during the implementation of the government's security plan in Tripoli.

The army and security forces imposed the plan in the city, aimed at cracking down on gunmen and suspects linked to unrest in the city.

Several of those arrested are wanted for their involvement in the clashes between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.

The implementation of the plan started in Tripoli and is being activated in the northern areas of the Bekaa.

The unprecedented operation of the armed forces to quell violence between the Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and the nearby Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh came after tensions between them were exacerbated by the war in neighboring Syria.

Alawite President Bashar Assad is facing a Sunni-dominated uprising since March 2011.

Successive rounds of violence between the neighborhoods have killed dozens of people and brought parts of Tripoli to a standstill.

On July 6, Dandashi had demanded through a message from jail, which was aired by LBCI, that the security plan be “implemented fairly, not selectively, in Tripoli.”